Rest In Peace, MGC

If you’re a regular browser of gaming websites, you’ve probably noticed something strange in the past day or so. Where many sites (including GameHounds) previously listed their writers’ XBox Live gamertags using a service called MyGamerCard.net, there are now no avatars, no gamertags, and no list of recently played titles.

Instead, there are boxes thanking the XBox community and listing the dates that the service was active: 2005-2011. I was surprised to see this dotted across my morning reading; I suppose that I, like many gamers, sort of took it for granted that MGC would be there, so I clicked on one of the little digital tombstones to see what was going on.

The site’s founder, “Morgon,” began operations in 2005, and according to him, “I certainly did not imagine that nearly five million unique GamerTags would end up using it.” In short, the letter that he has posted on the site explains that the closure is due to several factors, but in the end, the expense was simply too great to continue without alternate arrangements, which, although sought after, were ultimately unsuccessful. It’s difficult for me to imagine how such a popular and extensive service could, for all intents and purposes, rest on the shoulders of one man, and on that level, I suppose it’s simply impressive that MGC lasted as long as it did. However, it does raise the question of why, if one man could do it, an organization as large as Microsoft can’t seem to find a way to keep such a community-pleaser alive. There are other options available for similar services, to be sure, but none seem to have had the staying power nor the quality that MGC offered, which was why so many sites made use of it to share their information.

Although we’re certainly sad to see this service go, I hope people will take it as a challenge to come up with something even better, and that Morgon’s future endeavors will turn out to be just as successful. Providing MGC for years to so many people has certainly earned him that.